Why Did Mortgage Rates Rise Last Week?

The recent uptick in mortgage rates come as a result of the senate runoff elections in Georgia last week, says Zillow. The close race in Georgia came as a surprise to investors and caused Treasury yields to rise to their highest levels since the spring. This increase pushed mortgage rates up, and it remains unclear if these rates will continue to go up or slow back down.

The first test of this will be Friday’s December jobs report, which many expect to show a modest improvement from November. Should the report fall short of expectations, this upward momentum in bond yields and in mortgage rates could slow – especially if it mirrors the December ADP private payrolls report which showed a monthly net job loss.

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